Random musings from a "rabid" reader. The title comes from my admiration of John Updike and his Rabbit Angstrom series.When I read a review of a book I have not read, I only read enough to get a general idea of the content. If it sounds interesting, I make a note of the review, read the book, and only then do I go back and read the review completely. I intend these short musings to convey that spirit and idea to the readers of "RabbitReader."
--Chiron

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Rumi's Mathnavi: A Theatre Adaptation by Joe Martin

N.B. -- I wrote this review for the Early Reviewer program of www.LibraryThing.com. See the website for details.

Generally speaking, reading plays is not my thing. Even when I cover them in my literature classes, I assign parts for reading, then we all watch the video in class.

Rumi's love poetry was part of my wedding, and I really enjoy those works. I asked to review this because of the title.

Reading was a struggle, because the explanatory, biographical, and historical information was thin, and it seemed aimed at those familiar with Rumi and his works.

Nevertheless, there were some pretty cool passages. For example:

The Prophet said that women prevailWith the intelligent and the wiseOn the other hand it's the ignorant menWho prevail over women (28).

Whenever I think of women and religion, or simply the attidude of men toward Hillary Clinton, or women's rights, I can't help but think of the Chinese proverb, "Women hold up half the sky." So this view of women was a pleasant surprise considering what we think we know about Islam's attitude toward women. Three stars.